200mm Tarleton Bust

Obviously I suck at blogging. There hasn't been much progress on the KV. I did however complete a 200mm bust of Banastre Tarleton by Verlinden.

Tarleton was a British cavalry officer who led the volunteer British Legion also known as Tarleton's Raiders during the American Revolution. He quickly gained reputations as a capable and daring leader but also as a brutal and cruel opponent. He earned the nickname "Bloody Tarleton" from the Americans after an alleged massacre of Continental soldiers at Waxhaw Creek. He survived the war and returned to England in 1781.

The figure itself is cleanly molded in olive resin with a couple of minor pits on the turban. The base had some rough edges around the bottom of the pedestal. The figure comes in five parts consisting of the base, body, head, cap and peacock feathers. In order to fit the the cap to the head a fair bit of sanding and filing was required. I used 2-part epoxy. I was able to get a good join and also fill in some minor gaps.

After cleanup and assembly were complete I primed the figure with a rattle-can spray of white. Once this was dry I laid in the base colours using acrylic Citadel paints. In hindsight I should have put another coat or two of the green to get a more even coat - not being used to oils I didn't realize how translucent the paint would be. I did the eyes with acrylics at this point as well.



This bust is actually based on this painting of Tarleton. As you can see the facial features are not very accurate. His complexion appears to be quite pale. I decided to try a more painterly approach rather than the usual shadow, highlight blend repeat method. So I looked for a suitable model for reference and found it in Prince Harry. I printed out several pictures that I found online along with the Tarleton painting and a detail shot and set up a palette of flesh tint, rose madder, burnt sienna, yellow ochre, raw umber, ultramarine and titanium white.


Here I've started on the tunic which appears brighter in the pictures than it does in person. You can also see what I referenced earlier about the base coat showing through. Mind you it does add a sort of texture - sort of a "happy accident" I guess.

At this point the bust is mostly done. The guilt buttons and chain where done with Citadel Glistening Gold. The lace was built up from a brown base with yellow ochre, medium yellow and titanium white.

The final piece with the peacock feathers and finished pedestal. It doesn't show in the photo very well but the feathers are highlighted with metallic blue and violet from the Citadel range based on reference photos.

GB